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I’ve been creating Doodle Cards and other graphics almost every day since May 2016, and just self-published an eBook based on them. Looking back now, I don’t create them only myself; I can keep creating something every day because I always get inspired by the people who I respect.

Here is a list of individuals who always inspire and uplift me, even during a tough time:

James Altucher (Twitter: @jaltucher) – I read his book “Choose Yourself” in 2015, and it reconstructed my belief system. I’ve been reading his blog since then. When I first posted a visual note of his podcast, he shared it with his audience—that was a huge surprise to me, and also motivated me to keep creating and sharing my work with the world.

Sunni Brown (@SunniBrown) – Her book, “The Doodle Revolution,” inspired me to draw. Without her book, I wouldn’t start doodling—and you would never see my Doodle Cards.

Eric Barker (@bakadesuyo) – Eric’s blog, bakadesuyo.com, has helped me maintain my mental health. Eric is another person who often shared my work with his audience and helped me gain a public exposure.

Tod Brilliant (Instagram: @todesbrilliant) – Tod is the founder of the Super Nice Club and one of the influencers who started sharing my work with his audience in my early days.

And lastly—you. Yes, you. I can continue creating something every day because there are people who see my work. It doesn’t matter whether you “Like” my post or not; what is important to me is to do my best to make my work as inspirational as possible so that you can get something that is worth spending your time.

It’s a visual note of my takeaways from the James Altucher Show Ep. 246 with Ramit Sethi.

I listened to the episode about ten days ago. When I heard James saying, “Doing something is so much more important than thinking and planning,” I got a sort of ‘epiphany’ and decided to self-publish an eBook.

I had the idea of self-publishing for months, but I never put it into action. I was like, “What the heck am I waiting for? Nothing happens until I do something.” I immediately started working on the idea, and one week later, my eBook became available for sale.

There are hundreds of things I could have done or should have done. I should have hired an editor; I could have promoted my book in advance; the book design could have been much better… The list goes on and on. But the most important thing was to get the self-publishing done and to see what happens. If the outcome is not good, I just need to figure out how to be better next time.

This episode helped me get out of my comfort zone. Thank you James & Ramit for inspiring many of us!

To become a real idea machine, we have to keep applying creative thinking from beginning to end. But quite a few people are struggling with either generating ideas or executing ideas.

I’ve decided to create a step-by-step guide that can be helpful to all creative people… and here’s the first one-pager. This Idea Machine Workflow is completely based upon my experience as businessperson as well as consultant. Any feedback will be greatly appreciated 🙂

I believe in the power of “idea sex”—the term coined by James Altucher. When ideas mix together, we have unlimited number of new ideas. But if we really want to be an “idea machine” (also coined by James Altucher) and make the most of the power of idea sex, we have to be good at letting our ideas have sex with each other.

The SCAMPER technique is quite useful for that purpose. It’s like the Kama Sutra for idea sex. It has nine principal ways of changing a subject into something else, and I’ve been using these for years—either consciously or unconsciously—to generate ideas.

If you’re interested and would like to get to know about the technique right now, google the term “scamper technique” so that you’ll find many good references. I will post some info-doodles about it in the future because I believe it is quite useful to someone who creates something in his/her life—that is, all of us. Stay tuned! 🙂